Binocularity and visual search—Revisited

Binocular rivalry is a phenomenon of visual competition in which perception alternates between two monocular images. When two eye’s images only differ in luminance, observers may perceive shininess, a form of rivalry called binocular luster. Does dichoptic information guide attention in visual search? Wolfe and Franzel (Perception & Psychophysics, 44(1), 81–93, 1988) reported that rivalry could guide attention only weakly, but that luster (shininess) “popped out,” producing very shallow Reaction Time (RT) × Set Size functions. In this study, we have revisited the topic with new and improved stimuli. By using a checkerboard pattern in rivalry experiments, we found that search for rivalry can be more efficient (16 ms/item) than standard, rivalrous grating (30 ms/item). The checkerboard may reduce distracting orientation signals that masked the salience of rivalry between simple orthogonal gratings. Lustrous stimuli did not pop out when potential contrast and luminance artifacts were reduced. However, search efficiency was substantially improved when luster was added to the search target. Both rivalry and luster tasks can produce search asymmetries, as is characteristic of guiding features in search. These results suggest that interocular differences that produce rivalry or luster can guide attention, but these effects are relatively weak and can be hidden by other features like luminance and orientation in visual search tasks.     

On Bradley’s preservation condition for conditionals

Bradley has argued that a truth-conditional semantics for conditionals is incompatible with an allegedly very weak and intuitively compelling constraint on the interpretation of conditionals. I argue that the example Bradley offers to motivate this constraint can be explained along pragmatic lines that are compatible with the correctness of at least one popular truth-conditional semantics for conditionals.     

Commitment to Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: An Item Response Theory Analysis

Worthington conceptualized a model of religiosity assessment. The dimensions of the model include Religious Norms, Religious Doctrine, and Authority of Leaders. A 10-item scale for Islamic religious assessment was constructed and administered in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. First-order factor analysis conducted on the 10 items of the religiosity scale revealed factorial structure corresponding to Worthington’s model. A second-order factor analysis assured 1 underlying latent trait. Two-parameter logistic item response theory models were fit to responses collected in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Results supported psychometric soundness of the instrument. The items on the scale revealed excellent discrimination properties between the populations of high and low religious commitment. The study offers a short, practical scale for assessment of commitment to Islam in Central Asian countries.     

Neurophysiologic markers of primary motor cortex for laryngeal muscles and premotor cortex in caudal opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus investigated in motor speech disorder: a navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study

Transcranial magnetic stimulation studies have so far reported the results of mapping the primary motor cortex (M1) for hand and tongue muscles in stuttering disorder. This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for locating the M1 for laryngeal muscle and premotor cortical area in the caudal opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus, corresponding to Broca’s area in stuttering subjects by applying new methodology for mapping these motor speech areas. Sixteen stuttering and eleven control subjects underwent rTMS motor speech mapping using modified patterned rTMS. The subjects performed visual object naming task during rTMS applied to the (a) left M1 for laryngeal muscles for recording corticobulbar motor-evoked potentials (CoMEP) from cricothyroid muscle and (b) left premotor cortical area in the caudal opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus while recording long latency responses (LLR) from cricothyroid muscle. The latency of CoMEP in control subjects was 11.75 ± 2.07 ms and CoMEP amplitude was 294.47 ± 208.87 µV, and in stuttering subjects CoMEP latency was 12.13 ± 0.75 ms and 504.64 ± 487.93 µV CoMEP amplitude. The latency of LLR in control subjects was 52.8 ± 8.6 ms and 54.95 ± 4.86 in stuttering subjects. No significant differences were found in CoMEP latency, CoMEP amplitude, and LLR latency between stuttering and control-fluent speakers. These results indicate there are probably no differences in stuttering compared to controls in functional anatomy of the pathway used for transmission of information from premotor cortex to the M1 cortices for laryngeal muscle representation and from there via corticobulbar tract to laryngeal muscles.     

Shaping our personal past: Assessing the phenomenology of autobiographical memory and its association with object and spatial imagery

A new instrument has been developed that allows a comprehensive assessment of the relevant dimensions of the phenomenology of autobiographical memories (Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memory, APAM), and their association with visual object and spatial imagery has been examined. An initial version of APAM consisting of 30 items (the first 28 measured on a seven-point Likert-type scale) was developed and administered to a sample of 138 undergraduates. To test whether each item consistently measured the same dimension across different memories, all questions were rated for 12 cues. Results showed that 25 Likert-type items possessed adequate levels of internal consistency and unidimensionality across cues. We also found that higher levels of visual object imagery were associated with more sensory details and recollective qualities of memory, and with stronger experience of sensory and emotional reliving. The theoretical and practical usefulness of APAM as well as the relevance of visual object imagery in the phenomenology of autobiographical memory are discussed.     

The circumplex structure of affect: A Swedish version

The taxonomy of a circumplex model has been widely applied in the emotion domain and especially by researchers advocating a systematic arrangement of conscious emotional experience (see Fabrigar, Visser & Browne, 1997; Feldman Barett & Russell, 1999 for recent reviews). To rule out some of the lexical problems in the naming of affective states in the circumplex space, Larsen and Diener (1992) suggested a labeling system with forty-eight English adjectives representing eight affective states. The objective of the present study was to examine how well Swedish adjectives map onto a dimensional model of this kind, in doing so, to compose a Swedish measure for self-reported affect. The forty-eight Swedish adjectives translated from Larsen and Diener (1992) failed to capture a pure circumplex structure. However, when approximately two thirds of these adjectives were reanalyzed, a reasonable consistency with the circumplex model was reached. This suggested a composite Swedish measure for self-rated affect, with up to four adjectives representing each of the eight affective states in the circumplex space.     

A Defence of van Fraassen's Critique of Abductive Inference: Reply to Psillos

Psillos has recently argued that van Fraassen's arguments against abduction fail. Moreover, he claimed that, if successful, these arguments would equally undermine van Fraassen's own constructive empiricism, for, Psillos thinks, it is only by appeal to abduction that constructive empiricism can be saved from issuing in a bald scepticism. We show that Psillos' criticisms are misguided, and that they are mostly based on misinterpretations of van Fraassen's arguments. Furthermore, we argue that Psillos' arguments for his claim that constructive empiricism itself needs abduction point up to his failure to recognize the importance of van Fraassen's broader epistemology for constructive empiricism. Towards the end of our paper we discuss the suspected relationship between constructive empiricism and scepticism in the light of this broader epistemology, and from a somewhat more general perspective.     

Mortality salience effects on reckless driving intentions in a motorcyclist sample: The moderating role of group riding

Campaigns against reckless driving often mention the risk of dying. Research on terror management theory indicates that death claims may backfire and foster reckless driving. Here, we studied such mortality salience effects in a motorcyclist sample. Two moderating variables, particularly interesting regarding the sample of motorcyclists, were considered: group riding (vs. riding alone) and driving‐related self‐esteem. Motorcyclists were exposed to a campaign, either highlighting mortality or not. Orthogonally, cyclists were primed with riding in a group (vs. riding alone). Driving‐related self‐esteem was assessed via a questionnaire. We predicted that reminders of riding in a group would buffer against ironic mortality effects. Supporting this hypothesis, mortality salience effects interacted with the group prime. The results indicate that death appeals are likely to backfire with cyclists riding alone rather than cyclists riding in a group, especially if motorcycling is relevant to the self.     

Measuring Graded Membership: The Case of Color

This paper considers Kamp and Partee's account of graded membership within a conceptual spaces framework and puts the account to the test in the domain of colors. Three experiments are reported that are meant to determine, on the one hand, the regions in color space where the typical instances of blue and green are located and, on the other hand, the degrees of blueness/greenness of various shades in the blue–green region as judged by human observers. From the locations of the typical blue and typical green regions in conjunction with Kamp and Partee's account follow degrees of blueness/greenness for the color shades we are interested in. These predicted degrees are compared with the judged degrees, as obtained in the experiments. The results of the comparison support the account of graded membership at issue.